1. Technical Field
The present invention is concerned with a vapor containment apparatus and method which reduce the amount of solvent vapor released during the washing of an ink pump and an ink pump sucker tube.
2. Background Art
In the printing industry, inks of many different colors are received at a printing facility in fifty-five gallon drums and are transferred to smaller and more transportable ink buggies for delivering the ink to different locations within the facility. In order to distribute different colored inks among the ink buggies, a transfer pump pumps ink through a sucker tube and a suction line from an ink drum to an ink buggy. To prevent contamination of the ink, the pump, sucker tube, and suction line must be flushed with a solvent prior to pumping different colored inks. Because of the volatile vapor released by the solvents commonly used, it is important to protect an operator from being exposed to the vapor during the flushing procedure.
Prior to the present invention, an apparatus to contain the vapor released during flushing of ink pumps or sucker tubes has not been shown. Numerous devices have been proposed for washing paint guns in a closed container, such as those shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,682,273 to Roach, Balcom et al 2,745,418, and Sowers 4,923,522. None of these devices provide the capability of flushing a sucker tube or a pump.